Meet Amber Musette Drew-Padgett

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amber Musette Drew-Padgett.

Hi Amber Musette, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m not entirely sure how I ended up where I am today, and yet, somehow, I just did.

I’ve spent most of my adult life pursuing my education and raising my son as a single parent. I was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, a small suburb on the north side of Chicago. I graduated from Evanston Township High School in 2011 and attended Oakton Community College to pursue an associate degree in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in psychology. I didn’t take my studies seriously my first year in college, and as a result, my grades suffered, and I was placed on academic suspension for a semester. During my semester off from school, I worked full-time for a catering company. I was making good money, but I quickly realized that I wanted more out of my life, and I made the decision to go back to school to finish my degree. Spring 2013, I returned to Oakton and shortly after, I found out that I was pregnant. My son was my motivation to pursue higher education. I knew that the more education I had, the more opportunities would open up for me. After several roadblocks and challenges, I successfully completed my associate degree in 2015. I’m the first person in my family to get a degree.

From there, I went to Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, where I completed my bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a minor in Sociology in 2018. Shortly after I completed my undergraduate education, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee to begin a PhD program in Sociology at Vanderbilt University. I got married to the love of my life in February 2020 and became pregnant. Due to personal reasons, I left the program in August 2020 with a terminal master’s degree. Immediately, I started working full-time to bring in extra income while my husband was working on his master’s degree in Physics at Fisk University. My daughter, Ekoh, was born in December 2020.

During my maternity leave, I started to unlock my creativity. As an adult, I never really had the time to be creative because I was so focused on finishing school and working to provide for my family. This was the first time since I graduated high school that I had a break, and I took full advantage of it. I started drawing and experimenting with photoshop. I also started coming up with different designs to put on hoodies and t-shirts. For Christmas, I gifted my husband a hoodie that says “Child of the King” with a Jesus crown on it because for months, he had been talking about an idea he had to start up a Christian apparel line. He loved it so much that he told me that I should start up my own line of apparel. I started looking into t-shirt shops and I came across Shopify. I set up my Shopify website in January and I publicly launched BlaqExcellence Apparel on Sunday February 7, 2021 (Superbowl Sunday).

Simultaneously, I have been working on my apparel business and my art business, Creations by BlaqExcellence. Initially, I just started making art for fun. I posted my art a few times on Facebook, and I got an overwhelming amount of support for my work. I even got an invite to showcase my art at an event called the “Momllennials Sip & See Visual Showcase” hosted by organizer Soncya Noelle at the PSV Store on May 1, 2021. I showcased my art there for the first time and was personally asked to come back by the owners of the PSV Store to take part in the Juneteenth Art Crawl Showcase during the Germantown Art Crawl rebranded as the 100 Taylor Arts Market on June 19. I sold two pieces at this event, so I’m excited about that.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest struggle I have right now is time management – finding the right amount of time to dedicate to both businesses. These last few months have been crazy but in a good way. I quit my job February 24th, and since then I’ve just been working on my businesses and spending time with my family. We actually just came back from a two-week vacation in Hawaii. I took a break from actively advertising during our vacation as a way to reset. I also wanted to have new content to post when I got back since we took a few of the BlaqExcellence Apparel items with us to model. Since we’ve been back from Hawaii, we’ve been packing up our apartment to move to Virginia. Lots of beautiful opportunities have recently opened up for us.

With all of these new changes, one thing that I have to constantly remind myself of is to take my time with everything. My husband tells me this a lot. I’m not working for anyone but myself right now. Sometimes I set these impossible standards for myself in regards of trying to post new content on social media everyday or add new products to my Shopify site or finish a piece quickly. Thankfully, we’re in a position where we are not pressed for money, so at this point my businesses are just side hustles and I have the ability to go at my own pace. The most important things right now are just enjoying life and focusing on the things that matter. Not saying that my businesses don’t matter (because they definitely do), but having this mindset takes some of the pressure off of myself to feel like I have to do it all right now. I’m not a superwoman, and good things take time.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I own an apparel business, BlaqExcellence Apparel, where I specialize in designing graphic hoodies, t-shirts, and accessories like hats, water bottles, fanny packs, and backpacks. The themes of most of my custom designs are related to the Black experience. For example, I like to highlight the phrase “Black Lives Matter” because this is a movement that I closely align with. I designed a shirt that says, “Black lives, love, dreams, experiences, knowledge, hopes, futures, successes matter”. When people see that shirt, I want them to feel the meaning behind every word. I also own an art business, Creations by BlaqExcellence. I draw mostly for my own enjoyment, but I also want to get to the point where my pieces are selling out and being showcased at galas and other events.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Personality-wise, I’ve always been kind of quiet and to myself. I’m definitely an introvert, but over the years, I’ve learned to be “outgoing” as a survival mechanism. I really have to push myself outside of my comfort zone to make friends and connections. In the end, I’m grateful for it because I make friends wherever I go, but if it were up to me, I would live in a bubble because I’m really shy.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.blaqexcellence-apparel.com
• Instagram: @blaqexcellence_apparel
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/blaqexcellenceapparel